"One of the natural advantages of religion is longevity. The difpofitions and conduct of thofe who are truly religious, pre-. ferve them from many things that are injurious to health and old age. They are free from the havock which paffion, ftrife, and care, make on the conftitution. They live and walk in love, in temperance, in purity. and peace. Wisdom holds length of days in her right hand. God, in his all-ruling providence, in a thousand various ways, hath rescued his people from disease, and danger, and death; hath, in a remarkable. manner, preserved alive the fouls-of his fervants. This promife and defcription have : often been juftified and realized.

"Thou fhalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a fhock of corn cometh in, in his feafon.

"What man is there that does not wish to fee many days? Yes, days of enjoyment are univerfally defired. Life is endeared to those who perceive and enjoy the effects of their own plans and counfels and exertions who find they are useful to the world, and dear to their friends and to their families, and that their children arife and call them, and thus truly render them, bleffed. Life

continues

continues precious while the faculties re main, the graces and virtues of the divine. life increase, and the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness quietnefs and affurance, and the hoary head. is a crown of glory. An aged faint is well compared to a fhock of corn that cometh in, in his feafon full of days, of peace, and of honour; refpected of men, beloved and honoured of God, he is gathered to his fathers. As a fhock of corn, he is ripened in goodness and in worth: As a fhock of corn,. lodged in fafety, he is out of the reach of injury: As a fhock of corn, he is added to the precious collection in the celestial ry, to which at length will be joined the complete harvest of the faints, with Him who is the refurrection and the life, with Christ the first fruits, at the great day of the Lord.

grana

"I queftion not, my brethren, that the words, we have been confidering, occafion much fearching of heart among you, at this time. A recent, an affecting, a most interefting event, rufhes into your thoughts. You fay, Yes, the words of Eliphaz are fulfilled. Did not he come to his grave as a fhock of corn cometh in, in his feafon ?

I find I must check myself. In reviewing that event, in confidering and difcourfing of the mature worth, the character, the happiness of your highly refpected and much beloved paftor, I fhould be upfitted for continuing

the

the fervice; and of you, many you, from attending to it with that compofure it requires. I only fay, then, in one view, what an enviable event! refpect, usefulness, enjoyment entire to the very laft! In another, the event is most affecting. I need not fay, to whom I need not fay, in what.-Yet, I must add, and do not you allow, my friends -yes, you muft allow, the moft afflicted of you must confefs, that comfort predominates:-For, do not we all exclaim, "Blef "fed are the dead that die in the Lord: They reft from their labours, and their "works follow them."

"The death of a faithful minifter of religion is peculiarly interefting and affecting.. "Yes, fay many, the memory of whatever is moft interefting and affecting, is connected with the remembrance of our worthy paftor: For, under his ministry, and by the bleffing of God on his labours, we were first made to think feriously of our condition;

his prayers were heard; his counfels were received; we were convinced, and changed, and edified, and comforted. His example directed and animated us: in the hour of distress and forrow, his confolations, and prayers relieved and reftored our fouls.

"Though a faithful minifter is defirous to be useful to all his congregation, according

to the variety of their fituations and characters, as he is able to discover them, and has opportunities of contributing to the beft interefts of his people; there are some who are more interested in him, and to whom he can be more useful than to others, to whom, therefore, his departure must be peculiarly affecting.

"Friendship refults from more intimate acquaintance, and frequency of intercourfe; from fimilarity of difpofitions, and opportu nities of good offices; from tried affection, and from tried worth. Friendship binds men closely together. Jonathan loved David as his own foul. "If a friend is as thine

$6 own foul;"-if fo dear a friend, a friend dear because of affection and worth, is removed,-feparation must be feverely felt, especially after the enjoyment of the advan tages and endearments of amity for many years. You have loft a minifter, fay they to their neighbours; we have loft a minifter and a friend, who fhared in our joys and our forrows, and in whofe advice and affection we could always confide.

"I defcend into a deeper vale of affliction and of forrow, when I defcribe the lofs, and therefore the diftreffes, of nearer relations. I will not renew their exquifite fufferings. It is perhaps too much, to have opened the tender scene: though, who can pass it without attention? who can open it without emotion, and without advantage?

" It.

"It will ferve to relieve us from the ef fects of this tender fubject, to obferve, that a ftriking and interefting circumftance in the death of a faithful minifter is, his character and usefulness remaining entire to the end of life.

"Such honour have not all men: fuch honour have not all the faints. Old age, alas! often prefents us with that which excites our pity, rather than our veneration. When debility appears in the mind as well as in the body; when the mind decays before the body, and the faculties are much impaired; when disease of body is added to the fadder affliction of an enfeebled, exhaufted, diftempered mind, a mind of peevifhnefs and complaining, of anxiety and fear, a length ened existence cannot be defirable; and death is rather to be chosen than life. But the man of piety, of usefulness, of refpectabili ty, moving onwards, to the very end of life, in the uninterrupted courfe of duty, and poffeffing all that duty and worth fecures, we contemplate as peculiarly favoured of God. Our fincere regret and lamentation are mingled and foftened, and almost lost, in our admiration of the enviable lot of the friend of heaven. Our hearts are compofed in regarding the contrast that forces itself on our obfervation. What a difference betwixt them and their furviving friends, and those who have dragged on life, long after the days of strength of body, and vigour of mind,

and